Just wanted to say that this Do It for the Story IS THE GREATEST IDEA EVER. My name is Mia, I am Tori Pinheiro's little sis and had much great fun with Austin. You might like to hear that this Do It for the Story inspired a friend of mine to start a similar concept for another adventurer at UVM that passed last year. I'm sure Austin would love to know that he's still inspiring people all over in big BIG ways. I included my adventure too:
There it was, the grand finale of summer. Packing my parents van with a mixed knot of emotions tangling in my stomach, shutting the door and waving my see-you-later’s to the ocean, I was off on my most grand adventure to date: leading a group of UVM freshies forty some-odd miles kayaking down Lake Champlain for orientation!
We went through training week, getting paddling lesson from kayakers who had circumnavigated Japan, learning how to cross a white water river by foot and spending quality time camping with the fifty other leaders who were going to take out all sorts of trips! I was ecstatic when the freshman we had been preparing for began to arrive for the excursion. Me and my co-leader Liza named our group the “Alluring Vibrant Islanders”, and had ten fresh man to bring on this grand kayaking escapade down Champlain, to arrive in style to UVM, by kayak. Our kayaking guide was ben, he is a super experienced guide and actually has a peg leg. We were dropped off on the Northside of the lake, with all our food/gear/clothes/tents packed into our kayaks. Packing was tight and we were only supposed to pack two non-cotton shirts, but I successfully smuggled in my TEAM AUSTIN tank and wore it often.
We paddled about 45 miles over the whole week and stayed at a different island pretty much every night! We snuck in a sunrise paddle to one of the islands and on the last night we had to do a paddle from New York to Vermont under the stars due to implement weather conditions predicted for the next day. It was epic! (and a bit scary) Friends were born, miles were paddled and stories were told, you can bet I told Austin’s. Who is Austin, my friend asked me. Austin was an adventurer, and he is coming with me. Austin lead orientation for Boston University and I can only begin to imagine how STOKED the freshman at BU must have been after having all that spunk show em’ the ropes. I think he gave me a bit of his spicy spunk to share with my own adventuring freshies, so thanks austi-pasti, we had a rockin’ good time (:
Peace Love and Adventures
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